Brisk demand for SUVs and pickups — and five sunny weekends — pushed U.S. auto sales to a nine-year high in May.

Chrysler, Nissan and Toyota all reported double-digit sales gains over last May. Even General Motors, battling bad publicity from a mishandled recall, surprised analysts with a 13 percent sales increase.

Ford's sales rose a better-than-expected 3 percent, while Hyundai's were up 4 percent.

Of major automakers, only Volkswagen's sales fell — down 15 percent as the brand prepared to launch the new Golf compact car.

May traditionally is a strong month for the auto industry, as buyers spend their tax refunds and think ahead to summer road trips. This year's calendar, with five weekends, gave it an extra boost. Sales were particularly strong the last weekend of the month, automakers said.

“May was just one of those moments where everything came together for the industry,” Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager, said in a conference call with reporters.

Sales rose 11 percent to just over 1.6 million in May. That was the highest monthly total since July 2005, according to Kelley Blue Book.

The surge helped erase doubts about the strength of the industry. January and February sales were weaker than expected because of bad weather.

“It's the continued recovery in the summer selling season,” said Jeff Schuster, executive vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting firm. “Kind of everything aligning in the month of May.”

June should bring more of the same, said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book.

May sales were driven by pent-up demand from the winter, he said, but the summer months likely will be strong because of other factors, including low interest rates, good lease deals and enticing new vehicles.

Automakers didn't need big discounts to boost sales. Car-buying site TrueCar.com estimated incentives were flat from last May and up 4 percent from April to $2,677 per vehicle. TrueCar said Hyundai, Kia and Honda had the biggest increases in incentives in May. Chrysler, GM and Nissan offered fewer deals.

GM said May was its best month since August 2008. Sales of its GMC Yukon and Buick Encore SUVs more than doubled, and buyers snapped up the new Chevrolet Corvette.

While Toyota's sales increased 17 percent over last May, it reported mixed results for its San Antonio-made pickups.

“Our cars outperformed trucks for the first time in seven months,” Fay said.

The Japanese automaker enjoyed a 15 percent boost for its full-size Tundra pickup, but Fay blamed inventory constraints for a 6 percent decline in sales of the compact Tacoma model.

Fay said he expects the “solid growth” of the past three months to drive sales during the coming summer months.

“We expect the overall momentum to continue, driven by new products ... near-record low financing options and the recent uptick in consumer confidence,” he said.

Nissan's sales jumped 19 percent on strong demand for new vehicles, including the Sentra small car and Rogue SUV.

Hyundai said May was its best month ever in the U.S., with total sales of 70,907. Santa Fe SUV sales jumped 49 percent, while sales of Hyundai's luxury Equus and Genesis sedans rose 25 percent each.

Chrysler's sales rose 17 percent, boosted by strong demand for the new Jeep Cherokee small SUV. Chrysler said its Jeep brand sales jumped 58 percent and set an all-time monthly sales record, with 70,203 vehicles sold in May.

Ford's truck sales dropped 4 percent as the automaker cut back on incentives. Ford said it's trying to manage pickup truck inventories in preparation for plant shutdowns as it changes over to its new aluminum-clad F-150 pickup, which is due out later this year. Ford plans to close its truck plants for a total of 13 weeks this year. It normally would make around 90,000 trucks in that time.